The Finality and Power of Apostolic Christianity

Acts 19:1–20

I. Paul goes back to Ephesus.

Acts 19 – He had promised, “I will return to you again if God wills” (18:21).

A. Jesus and the baptism of John – 1–7: It seems to me that the case of Apollos and the case of these “disciples” are virtually identical.

1. 1. Luke brings us into the middle of a conversation and gives a brief summary of what had to be a significantly longer engagement. Paul had been in Ephesus earlier and knew the disciples that had attended his ministry. These clearly were people professing to follow the teaching of John the Baptist about the coming Messiah. They believed his message that one would come after him who would be the Lamb of God, and who would baptize with the Spirit and with fire. Paul discerned that they had not become familiar, however, with the progress of doctrine and information subsequent to the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost, at which time the Spirit descended in power.
   2. This explains why Paul asked them the two questions:

• • • “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Paul is asking specifically if their becoming disciples involved the external manifestation of the Spirit coming with new covenant intent, granting them evidences of his embracing them in the newly forming body of Christ. No longer ethnicity or ceremony were to serve as identifying factors, but the purifying operation of the Spirit (Matthew 3: 8–11). This had happened at Pentecost in Acts 2, in Samaria in Acts 8: 4–8 and 14–19; and in the house of Cornelius in Acts 10: 44–48. Because John had spoken of the Holy Spirit and that the coming one would form a new people, they knew this was to happen, but they did not know that it actually had taken place.
    • None can believe or persevere in faith apart from the work of the Spirit in regeneration and indwelling (Romans 8:9; 1 John 5:4). This was true of Old Testament believers as well as of post-resurrection believers. This work of the Spirit is a greater quantitative effusion of the Spirit, the genesis of identifying the people of God through the work of the Spirit (John 4:23, 24; Hebrews 8:13; 1 Peter 2: 4, 5; 9, 10; 1 John 2:20, 21). By granting these extraordinary gifts, the Spirit gives clear and immediate evidence that these people have been included in that new community being formed (Acts 11: 15–18; 14:3; Galatians 4:6, 7).
    • “Unto what then were you baptized?” If their knowledge of Christ did not include an awareness of the promised pouring out of the Spirit, then their entry into discipleship probably was prior to Pentecost and the initiation of baptism into full trinitarian doctrine through the acknowledgement of Christ’s completed work. When they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul knew, as did Aquila and Priscilla earlier concerning Apollos, that their discipleship was based on the prediction of Christ’s soon-appearing. John the Baptist, however, was beheaded before the fulfillment of Christ’s ministry, before his rejection and death, before his burial and resurrection, before his missionary commandment at his ascension, and before the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. John himself, though the greatest of men to that point, looked for more events and manifestations of fulfilled prophecy for Jesus to fill out the entire picture (John 11:1–19). John was great because he was the final prophet making way for the Messiah and actually looked upon him, pointed to him as the Lamb of God, and had his ministry validated by the Messiah’s confirmation and submission to his message through baptism. Those, however, who enter the kingdom through faith in the completed work of Christ are greater, in that sense, than even John the Baptist (John 11:9–11).

1. 3. Paul explained that the one to whom John pointed had come. He identified him as Jesus of Nazareth. It would be hard to imagine that Paul did not give to them the full witness of the gospel as it filled out the prophecies of the Old Testament. They believed and were baptized with specific reference to having heard the word of truth in the gospel about Jesus Christ and expressed their full satisfaction in Paul’s inspired explanation.
   4. As an apostle who confirmed the continued incorporation of diverse groups into the body of Christ, breaking down all walls of division, he laid his hands on them, and they too manifested the special operation of the Holy Spirit in having been brought near by the blood of Christ. These spiritual gifts were granted as an indication that they now were baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).Perhaps to this event Paul referred when he wrote, “In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13, 14).

II. Teaching and Preaching.

Paul stayed for two years teaching and preaching.

A. For three months he taught in the synagogue, reasoning and persuading those who attended about the kingdom of God.

The throne of David would be occupied unendingly by Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. He had come from the Father to inaugurate the kingdom by his redemptive death and resurrection. His coming in the form of a servant, his rejection by the Jewish scribes and synagogue leaders, their complicity in his death, and his execution at the hands of Rome has now been reversed by his resurrection, ascension, and present exaltation. He would come again to judge the world and reign forever. Paul pointed out how all of the facts in the life of Jesus fit the whole prophetic and typological pattern of the Old Testament to the Messiah. This constituted the reasoning and persuading that Paul did.

B. Some became hardened, began to speak evil of “the Way.”

They did this “before the multitude” seeking to counter the presentation of Paul. Paul was not shocked by this, for he had become accustomed to the offense of the gospel. He had recently seen that the gospel was to the Greek mind foolishness, and now again the Jew sees it as a stumbling stone. As in the days of Jesus himself, the profile of the Messiah in his initial state of humiliation did not suit their own deductions about how he would come and what he would do.

C. Paul was undeterred by this hostile response to his persuasive teaching for he had been taught by the Lord to expect it, but simply moved to a fitting location with a sympathetic administrator.

Those who had believed moved then with Paul to the “school of Tyrannus” where Paul reasoned daily.

D. During the two years so many people came from different parts of Asia that none of the provinces were without someone who had heard the gospel (10).

III. Apostolic Signs.

During this time, God was present mightily in Paul, doing the signs through him demonstrating that he was an apostle of God (verses 11–17). Luke inserts this example of one of the ways that Paul’s exertion of power in his teaching was given verification by other demonstrations of power. To this same phenomenon Paul refers in 2 Corinthians 12:11, 12.

A. “The hands of Paul” (11) became instruments for manifestations of divine approval of his message.

Paul was the channel of the divine message of the gospel by which the eternal consequences of sin and death are stayed and even reversed for the imputation of righteousness and the hope of eternal life (See Titus 3:4–7). The immediate actions of Paul brought divine mercy into the physical realm of a fallen world even as his speech brought the gracious intention of God into the moral and spiritual realm.

B. Even beyond his hands, items that touched his body were taken to the sick and demon possessed.

The diseases as well as the demons were defeated by the Spirit’s operation through the ministry of Paul. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul reminded them that “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” He continued, “For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches?” indicating that this phenomenon of spiritual power both in speaking revealed truth and in healing the sick and demon-possessed was present in every place.

C. The exclusivity of this spiritual-giftedness as an apostolic identifier is shown by the attempt of Jewish exorcists to invoke that power.

Among them were the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish High Priest. They sought to usurp this power by confronting a demon possessed man in the name of “the Jesus whom Paul preaches” (13). They acted as if they could assume the power of the name without being commissioned. Among the many implications of this wild and unwarranted grasp for celebrity power is the uniqueness of God’s purpose in showing sovereignty through apostolic appointment. These demonstrations of authority over disease in the natural world and victory over demonic forces in the spiritual world were in service of revelation and redemption. The word spoken by the apostles was revealed truth, and the way of redemption from sin through Jesus undergirded all these occasions of demonic disarmament.

D. The Jewish exorcists had no warrant to invoke the name of Jesus nor had they immediate commission for this uniquely apostolic verification.

Furthermore, there is no indication that they had believed the content of Paul’s message but only sought the amazement prompted by these signs and wonders. The demon spoke out of the man he had possessed and ridiculed the pretenders revealing that he had no duty within the spiritual realm to respond to them even though they invoked the name of both Jesus and Paul.

E. Peter also had a similar event at Samaria when Simon, an ostensible but unrepentant professor of faith, sought to buy the power of bestowing the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17–19).

He was a sorcerer whose work had “astonished the people” so much that they consented that he was a conduit of divine power. Philip’s miracles and Peter’s bestowing of the Holy Spirit paled Simon’s works, and Simon did not want to be relegated to the position of a second-rate sorcerer. His attempt at purchase of such power revealed a heart that was wicked and not right with God, weighed down with iniquity and bitterness (Acts 8:20–23).

F. Whereas Peter rebuked Simon in Samaria, in Ephesus the demon revealed the weakness and hypocrisy of the Jewish sorcerers.

The man, so overwhelmingly empowered physically by the demon, routed them, injured them, and stripped them before they could flee for their lives (16). The believers in Ephesus would have an experiential understanding of Paul’s description of the unregenerate state, when he wrote “you once walked … according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).

G. Having experienced the power of the gospel and seen the palpable overthrow of demonic forces (12), and having set before them the amazing power of the demons that had been overcome by the word and work of the apostle, the people who had believed began to bring valuable writings that included pagan and demonic incantations and burned them.

This was in demonstration of their complete rejection of the sorceries, magic arts, conjuration, and demonic enchantments that they had known from childhood and had practiced and believed in their adult lives. They wanted nothing to do with these nor did they want others to have access to them.

H. These events served to produce a deep and conscientious attention to the teaching of Paul, Timothy, and Erastus.

In that vibrant context, “the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed” (20). It prevailed over the superstitions of the people who heard and believed, it prevailed over their former well-set commitments to Diana, it prevailed over the power of the diabolic, and it prevailed over the killing effects of trespasses, sins, and corruption of soul.

I. Paul prepared to go to Macedonia to revisit the churches there and sent Timothy and Erastus before him.

He would follow, but first the record shows that massive disruption that the gospel made in the culture and religious perceptions of Ephesus.

IV. The city arose in opposition.

So mighty had been the manifestation of the power of the gospel in destroying superstition and idolatry (verses 17–20), that they feared that the devotion to Artemis might be completely eliminated.

A. The speech of Demetrius indicates two major concerns – Verses 23–27.

1. 1. Demetrius sought support from the craftsmen of Ephesus by warning that their lucrative means of income would be spoiled if Paul’s art of persuasion continued to have effect (23–26). If this occurred, those who made these chaplets and images of Diana might themselves be seen as promoting an unlawful manner of worship (27). So, money and prestige were the leading concerns of Demetrius.
   2. If Paul’s assertion that these products of their hands were no gods, as he had done at Athens (17:25, 29, 30), then both the temple of Diana and the great goddess herself might be despised. Her magnificence would indeed be destroyed as would her temple. The temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, standing 425 by 220 feet and being supports by 127 pillars. As a goddess invented from the fallen, corrupt imagination of men, no evidence of her existence or attributes or power could ever be entered within the field of apologetics and no action of hers could ever be documented. She was one of twelve chief deities of the Greek Pantheon that, among others, included Hermes, Juno, Minerva, Neptune, Mercury, and Apollo. A dozen gods! Any number more than one is a clear evidence that none of these inventions replicates the necessary ontology of deity. Her devotees invoked her as the goddess of life with symbols of fertility adorning her image, and her worship included ceremonial prostitution. What a blessing that she lives no longer.

B. Demetrius’s speech caused a riot in the city – Verses 28–34.

The massive uprising against Paul and his remaining companions was a maze of confusion, shouting, contradiction, and bewilderment (29, 32). Paul wanted to speak with this frenzied mob, but his friends would not permit him (30, 31). Paul had experience in speaking with hostile crowds, but the speech of Demetrius had been so pointed toward Paul as the opponent of Diana and the trade her deity encouraged (26), that his appearance surely would only add another level of ferocity and unintelligible malignity. They would not listen, would shout him down, and possibly would seek to execute him. Paul was brave, eager to suffer for Christ, but also was wise, considerate of the reasoning of others, and was willing to preserve life for future ministry.

C. The town clerk brings calm – Verses 35–41.

A familiar face, a familiar voice, a civil authority, a fellow worshipper of Diana finally gained a hearing and dispersed the crowd. He indicated that the worship of Diana was safe (35). He appealed to law and order and implied that Demetrius acted under false pretenses and in violation of the civil code of Ephesus. He was able to gain control and finally dismissed the assembly.

D. Paul met with the church and left for Macedonia – 20:1.

Poem

Abraham believed the promise and was justified by faith.
David, Jonah, and Isaiah trusted grace to save from wrath.
Habakkuk saw God’s anger act, yet found joy in God who saves.
Malachi announced the prophet who announced the Lord we crave.
“There is Jesus, Lamb of God.
He’s from heaven; I’m from sod.”

Those who grasped the Baptist’s message knew redemption’s Lamb was near.
Apostolic revelation proved God’s full salvation here.
Receive one, receive the other; God has promised; it is done.
Death and resurrection finished; sin atoned, life in the Son.
Gospel’s glory now expressed;
Spirit’s confirmation blessed.

Paul taught with purpose to persuade that Jesus brought God’s kingdom.
Malicious opposition rose from those who hated freedom.
From synagogue to lecture hall, Paul found a fit location
To teach God’s truth to Jew and Greek, fulfilling his vocation.
Signs and wonders proved his call—
Sickness vanquished, demons fall.

Those who coveted such power, without call and without Lord,
Found the demons overwhelming, fled unclothed, so Luke records.
All were seized with fear and reverence; Many burned their pagan scrolls.
Up in flames they went untreasured, bowed to truth that Paul had told.
Jews and Greeks in Asia reached
By the gospel Paul had preached.